Pilot Program Starts Sept. 12

ProjectConnect, a Student Health Services pilot program starting Monday, Sept. 12, addresses student mental health needs by creating a fun environment for building friendships to address student loneliness, depression and anxiety.

This pilot program uses student facilitators to lead small groups through six ProjectConnect sessions geared toward helping students make connections with other University students.  

Students are invited to participate in the following sessions:

• In the first three sessions, students engage in short icebreaker activities and respond to a series of questions from the deck of Connection Cards. The questions progress from fun and light, to increasingly deeper to build closeness. Students report that they find the conversations meaningful and refreshing. 
• In the fourth session, students engage in a small Connection Project to promote connection in the broader campus community. This project involves writing notes of gratitude and appreciation to people on campus or creating posters or post-it notes with positive messages and hanging them around campus.
• The fifth session is a closing ceremony. Each student brings a personal object that is important to them, that represents something about who they are and shares it with the group. Each group member also gets a turn in the “loveseat” and other group members take turns sharing positive things about them. The session ends with a closing exercise to talk about their experience in the group.
• The sixth and final session is a reunion that meets 1-3 weeks after the fifth session. This provides an opportunity for students to come together again informally as a group to do an activity that the group decides on together, from a meal at a local restaurant, to playing a game. 

Students interested in joining a ProjectConnect group should visit our Meet the Facilitators page to learn more about the students who lead the meetings and submit a ProjectConnect interest form to join a group. Space is limited. For more information, contact ProjectConnect coordinator Jaiden Moore.